


Plagues of the Past

by hypnoscissorsghostnerd



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Apothecary, Bisexual Female Character, Doctor - Freeform, F/F, F/M, Jealousy, M/M, Multi, Original Character(s), Pining, Plague, Slow Burn, shop owner
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-02 10:22:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20274358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hypnoscissorsghostnerd/pseuds/hypnoscissorsghostnerd
Summary: Your cousin you nicknamed ‘Twinkle Fingers’ for their prowess in magic invited you to open up shop in Vesuvia with their spouse, Asra. They both know you need a fresh start after losing your old shop.There’s no need for a  doctor anymore in your city. Work dried up, you’re desperate, and you’ve turned to alcohol to cope with your loss. You pack your things in a single burlap sack and make your way to Vesuvia.Little did you know, the palace’s head physician falls for the new doctor. Hard.





	1. Settling in Vesuvia

**Author's Note:**

> A note about this story:  
The doctor is actually based off a female OC so I tried to be as ‘reader-insert’ as possible. And to make things interesting, the apprentice married to Asra is also self-insert. So the tags are a little confusing. But this is primarily a Julian x Reader. I’ll do my best!

It’s been about one week since I arrived in Vesuvia. One long, busy, tedious week of unpacking and setting up my apothecary.

The interior was dark, just as I like it to be. The walls were lined with magically lit lanterns with one large chandelier in the center of the room. The many shelves that ran along the walls were finally filled with jars of various cures and dried mixes. Plants dangled from the ceiling, it’s vines like tiny tendrils reaching for me as I walk past them, only to curl back when they realize they weren’t going to get any attention.

I was opening up a magical gate in the back room to a hidden private greenhouse when a knock interrupted my spell. I sigh heavily and stare disappointedly at the wall. The illegal greenhouse had to wait.

Closing the curtain to the back behind me, I make my way to the front door. I can hear the vines above my head rustle, begging to be petted. I glance back at the counter in the center of the room to see the reaction of my familiar.

The snow-white fox remained curled up in a relaxed position as the knocking continued. If Viktor wasn’t concerned, I wasn’t either.

I place my palm against the wood of the door to release its magic. Just as the last of the glyphs fade from the wood, the door bursts open to see my bright-eyed cousin with a fluffy white-haired person behind them you immediately recognized as Asra.

“You’re here!” they squealed. I couldn’t help but take the tackling embrace.

“We heard a strange female loomed this side of town,” Asra grins as he steps inside.

“Lurking around in knee high boots,” my cousin makes a motion to my legs. They make their way up my outfit. “An asymmetrical black skirt that stopped at the knees, strange glyphs tattooed their thighs.”

“Hey,” I snap, cheeks flushing. I never felt so attacked by a family member before. “These glyphs are easy access to magic when I need to help people.”

“I know, I know, it’s your job,” they wave me off. They show off their magical flair with some fire on their fingertips.

“Don’t burn my plants, Twinkle Fingers,” I groan. That’s when I realize I hadn’t been a very gracious host to Asra.

Flushing, I turn to him with a smile. I motion to the counter where Viktor remained asleep.

“Can I get you some tea?” I offer. “He won’t bite.”

Asra’s eyes light up with the kindest smile. I could see how my cousin fell for him so quickly.

“Of course,” he says with a gentle nod. “We could catch up. It’s nice to finally speak with you besides through the magical realms.”

* * *

The hour was growing late by the time Asra got up to excuse himself. We laughed and talked about my adventure here. It was a rather fulfilling night.

Twinkle Fingers gave me another hug before they link hands with Asra. I couldn’t help but feel my smile fade as they leave.

I should be happy for them. Their hands intertwined the entire night. The way Asra would smile at his spouse. The giggles they shared with inside jokes. The way they finished each other’s stories and stoked each other’s magical prowess. But for some reason, my stomach twisted with jealousy.

No. I swore off love.

Not after what happened.

Instead of closing the door behind them, I grab my own beaked plague mask. Slipping it on, I click my tongue for Vik. He stretches, yawns, then leaps down to lazily saunter over to me. I close the door behind us.

“Come on,” I motion down the darkened alleys. “Let’s see if we can find me a drink.”

-

It wasn’t hard to find the tavern in the wall. Just follow the smell of booze and sin.

“The Rowdy Raven, huh?” I read the sign aloud.

Vik sneezes.

“I know, it reeks,” I nod. “Let’s go in.”

The fox groans but follows me inside.

The chaos was almost welcoming. A group of drunks betted at the corner table. A man passed out at the bar. Most were overweight, stuffed with gluttony, overindulging in booze.

It was perfect.

However, as I walked through there was one man who stood out amongst the rest. Unlike everyone else, he was calm. Red hair cascades down his face and partially covering one eye. There were heavy bags around his exposed eye, as though he hadn’t slept in years. He was leaned up in a lone booth with several empty cups around him. He seemed busy, scribbling in a journal. A book lay open in front of him. Who brings work to a loud tavern?

I approach the burly bartender and squeeze next to the padded out patron. The bartender looks up with an intrigued gleam in his eye. 

“New face,” he grins. “Hiding from the guards?”

He meant my mask. When I don’t answer, he keeps smiling. In fact, his grin widens.

“Nobody here can afford to rattle,” he reassures you. “You’re sage here. But when the raven crows, you gotta run.”

This wasn’t my first sketchy tavern trip. I simply motion to the liquor bottle behind him and he nods.

The bartender keeps prattling on about salty bitters and the types of patrons he sees. I’m not paying attention until I hear something about another doctor in the house.

“Doctor?” I echo.

“Yep,” he shrugs, pouring me a shot glass. I hold up two fingers. He eyes me suspiciously before taking a second shot glass out and filling that up, too.

“See the redhead over there?” he nods to the man you were sizing up earlier. “That’s the palace physician. He used to come here when he was a fugitive. Now he comes in just to get away from it all, I suppose.”

I stare at the man who seemed too engrossed in his work to notice that we were talking about him. I fish out some coins in my pocket to give to the bartender. He watches me as I pull up the mask just high enough to expose my lips. I take both of the shots with one gulp. The bartender smirks.

“Impressive,” he nods. He hands me a stein, bubbling at the rim. “On the house for entertaining me.”

Free booze? Fuck yeah.

-

An indeterminate amount of time passes and the liquor finally caught up to me. I vaguely play a game and ended up winning.

The winnings fell in my hands just when a fist came at me. Startled and drunk, I backpedal backwards so quickly I don’t realize that I had run into the redhead’s table.

I turn around, hands full of coin, staring at him wide-eyes. His brows are furrowed as he looks up for the first time in the entire evening. Then, those furrowed brows shot up into his hairline.

“That mask—” he drifts.

I’m too drunk for a coherent conversation. An irrational fear of being recognized clenched around my heart. Without much thought, clutching the loose coins to my chest, I turn and bolt out. There’s whooping and hollering after me, but it’s the man’s voice that stands out from the rest.

“Wait!” I can hear him come after me. “Wait, I just want to talk!”

I run blindly through the unfamiliar dark alleys. There's a guard patrolling about and I skidded to a stop; even inebriated I knew how bad it looked to be running in the middle of the night with a handful of coins. I wasn’t about to get arrested, so I spin around to go back where I came.

The red headed man is not far from me. His loose white shirt clinging to his chest from sweat. He’s panting hard as he slows to a stop just a few feet in front of me. Surrounding us was a large cobblestone wall covered in moss. The other side was either the road or the river; my mind was too fuzzy to comprehend the answer.

“Come here,” he whispers urgently as he sees the shadow of the guard approach. “I won’t hurt you.”

I eye the cobblestone wall next to me before gazing at him again. In the darkness, I couldn’t make out his face very well but I could tell he was concerned. I glance at the wall again. The boots of the guard gets louder.

His eye widened at the realization of my intention. He shakes his head vigorously. He motions me not to do what I’m thinking of doing.

I didn’t want to go to jail. But I also didn’t want to talk to this strange physician.

“Don’t!” He rasps.

I drop my coin and hook my boot against the wall, scrambling past the slippery moss as I hear the guard bark an order behind me.

The alcohol blacks me out after that.


	2. Dinner and an Introduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You try to enjoy your dinner with your cousin and their spouse, Asra. An unexpected guest ruins the evening.

The sun streams through the windows as Vik nuzzles through bottles in my apothecary. He nudged a jar of poppy seed, his ears pricking up toward me in interest.

“Thanks, Vik,” I say. I reach for the jar and lazily bring it to the alcove in the back, wobbling a little from the night before.

I draw the heavy curtain back to reveal a desk with a mess of journals, ink, and a mortar and pestle. I shove the papers away from the mortar before pouring some poppy seed into it.

As I got to work, I hear someone come inside.

“Be right with you,” I call out. I flinch as my own loud voice accentuated my hangover.

“It’s just me,” a soft voice calls back.

I poke my head out to see Asra running his hand along the vines above his head. The vines curl around his fingers and let go as he pulls away. They twirl and curl around some more, begging for attention.

“Don’t spoil them,” I chastise, but a smile dances on my lips.

I carry the crushed poppy seeds to my little tea station in the corner. Vik has already placed a kettle on the stove. He was now using his paws to dig out the fire salamander that warmed the stove. Within moments, it flickers to life and I’m preparing a poppy seed milk tea.

“It looks like you had a rough night,” Asra almost purrs.

“I don’t remember,” I dismiss. The kettle warms and I pull a mug from the hooks above the stove.

“Poppy tea?” He questions. “Must be quite the hangover.”

I sigh as I took my first sip. Vik paws at my books. I walk past him to a small drawer of treats I had to hide from him. I toss him a strip of dry meat and the white fox catches it from midair.

_“More.”_

His voice crooned into my mind, begging.

“Later,” I say. I pat his head and he leans up against my hand. “Sorry you had to find your own way home last night.”

Vik doesn’t use his words, but leaning against my hand was a sign he accepted my apology.

“What did you need?” I ask Asra, slowly sipping at my tea again.

“How about some dinner at my place tonight?” Asra asks. I immediately raise a brow and he laughs.

“Not like that,” he chuckles. “Your cousin and I thought it would be nice to have some family over.”

I think about it, staring into his violet eyes as I sipped away at my tea. He’s smirking again. Damn. No wonder Twinkle Fingers fell for him. I shake my head, getting the thought out.

No. Not now. I couldn’t think about finding my own romance.

“Sure,” I sigh. “Until then, feel free to browse.”

He follows me through my apothecary as I go on explaining and answering his questions.

“Oh, that’s just a worrywart. Ironic for the name, it’s roots help with anxiety. Oh! And that’s dragonbreath. The petals themselves make a great tea for colds and if you crush them…”

* * *

Twinkle Fingers grins as Asra leads me into their humble shop. They run towards me in a big embrace. I’m immediately hit by the scent of myrrh and herbs.

“What have you been cooking?” I laugh. “It smells burnt.”

“It’s soup,” they whimper.

Asra chuckles as he embraces his spouse from behind. I had to advert my eyes as his lips roam lovingly over their head.

“Well, let's get the table set, shall we?” Asra purrs in their ear.

Vik lifts his head to sniff Asra’s sash. I was horrified for a moment, ready to chastise, when Asra raises calm hand. He shakes his head and opens his sash slightly.

A little purple snake pops her head out of the sash. She flicks her tongue out at Vik, who simply sniffs with curiosity. Vik doesn’t growl, but his ears pin back with caution. Within moments, the snake is slithering on his head and Vick’s ears prick back up.

“My familiar,” Asra explains, smiling as the two creatures play. “Faust.”

“Faust,” I echo.

_“Friend.”_ Vik hums.

“Friend,” I agree.

-

“...and he hasn’t brewed a single cup of tea since!”

Laughter erupts at the table. Asra is flushes, but he’s laughing along. I avert my eyes as he reaches over the table and holds my cousin’s hand.

The tea had long since gone cold and the food all eaten. But what kept you was a full Vik snuggling with Faust at the fireplace and the good company.

A knock at the shop’s door interrupts the conversation. I turn my attention to my two gracious hosts, who looked just as confused as I did.

“I could’ve sworn I turned off the lantern,” says my cousin. They look at Asra with disbelief. “Did you turn it back on?”

“I can just turn them away,” Asra says as he stands. “I’m sure they’d understand.”

“Leave it to Twinkle Fingers to forget things,” I laugh.

“That’s not my name,” they sigh.

They chastise me, but I kept my gaze on the sleeping Vik as Asra leaves. There’s a click as he answers the door.

“I’m sorry but we’re—”

“Asra! I have to tell you about last night!”

“Ilya, you can’t just barge in here,” Asra sounds strained.

There’s footsteps, but I do my best not to turn around. This was their business, not mine.

“But I saw a woman, I think she was a doctor—”

The commotion came to me instead. I turn around, agitated that this person wasn’t taking the damn hint. But as I turned, my heart drops.

The red hair. The eyepatch. The dark circles around the eyes.

“You!” He yelps.

“Me?!” I stand. “What about you?”

“I see you are acquainted,” Asra raises a brow at us, but he’s smiling.

“I ran into him at the Rowdy Raven,” I explain. I quickly tell them what happened the night before. Or, rather how much of it I remember.

_“Drunk.”_ Vik chimes.

“Shush, Vik.”

“Vik?” The redhead asks. I can’t help but glare.

“Uh,” Asra clears his throat.

“Julian, this is my cousin,” Twinkle Fingers waves a hand at me. They say my name too loudly. I didn’t want him to know my name…

The Julian man whispers my name under his breath. I suppress a shudder. He gives me a smirk and a bow, his black coat raising in a flourish. I look away; were men always this attractive?

“Nice to meeet you,” he smiles. 

I nod. I look at Vik. He seems cozy.

_“Sorry, buddy. Gotta go.”_

Vik slowly raises his head at me, waking Faust from her own sleep. The snake slithers back to Asra, who scoops her up. Vik’s beautiful sea blue eyes meets mine. He seems incredulous. He has every right to be.

“Thanks for dinner,” I nod to my hosts.

“Wait, I have so many questions—” Julian tries to stop me.

But the door closes behind me leaving me in the silence of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next one is looooooong


	3. Sanctuary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seems like I can’t get away from the palace physician.

The Raven was just as rambunctious as the night before. The bartender pours a shot for me as I approach the counter.

“Nice to see your face,” he winks.

“You recognize me?” I ask. 

That’s right, the last time he saw me, I had my mask on. Suddenly self-conscious, my hand shoots up to my face. The bartender chuckles.

“Your hair,” he explains, handing me the shot glass. “It’s unique.”

“Ah,” was all that comes out of my mouth.

I toss back the liquid and it burns on its way down. I barely even shudder. The bartender grins as he already prepares me a second one.

“Mind if I ask for your name?” he asks politely. I stare at him for a moment, hand hovering over the refilled shot glass. After another moment’s hesitation, I tell him quietly. Instead a look of disgust or of recognition, he flashes me another bright smile.

“Barth,” he replied proudly.

“Barth,” I echo.

He nods in appreciation as he watches me toss back the second shot. With a hiss, I place it down. He motions to the bottle, offering me more. I nod and he fills up the glass.

“Have you made friends with the other doctor?” he asks.

“No,” I blurt, the alcohol loosening my lips. “I saw him at my cousin’s and their husband’s house.”

I sigh heavily, leaning against the counter. “Something about him bothers me.”

“Did he say something?” The bartender asks.

“No,” I wave off the question. “Nothing like that. It’s just—I don’t need another doctor taking up my business.”

“Ah, so it is not spite but jealousy that deters you!” I look up, confused. He shrugs. It wasn’t Barth’s voice. It was a voice from behind me.

I spin around, startled, to be face-to-face with Julian. He’s rather close behind me and I see how much taller he is than I. But I’m still sure I can kick my boots up his scrawny—

“None of your concern,” I scoff. I toss back the third shot. I wave a hand and an extra coin on the counter.

“Should you slow down?” Julian asks.

I snort as Barth doesn’t hesitate to refill my glass. I toss it back. It’s warm. I’m starting to feel fuzzy. Very fuzzy.

“Let’s talk,” he offers.

Julian vaguely motions to a booth. I’m swaying and I don’t protest. He has a hand hovering over my shoulder, not daring to touch me. I’m glad; I wasn’t in fighting condition right now anyway.

I plop down heavily into the booth that I had seen him sitting alone at before. He doesn’t immediately sit down. He goes up to Barth, orders something, waits, then comes back with a tankard in hand. I stare at the tankard as he begins to drink it.

“What do you want?” I say more aggressively than I had initially intended.

Julian eyes me over the rim of the tankard. He wipes his mouth a gloved hand before smirking. He places the tankard down with a sigh.

“I have some questions,” he says simply. I raise a brow. When I don’t argue, he continues.

“Why to Vesuvia?” he asks. “There isn’t a need for doctors here anymore since the plague.”

“Then I can ask you the same thing,” I barked out a laugh. “Why would a palace court need a physician if there is no longer an imminent threat of a plague to break out?”

“So I can overlook—things!” Julian defended. He tosses his head back and chugs the rest of the tankard’s contents. He exhales heavily before getting up for more.

Before he could leave, Barth comes around the counter and delivers four more. Julian’s eye lights up and I hiccup on my last shot of alcohol. Julian settles back in front of me with a silly grin on his face.

“What’s with your eyepatch?” I ask, breaking the silence. I got tired of listening to him drink.  
“What’s with your tattoos?” he retorts.

I sigh. Perhaps it’s the alcohol, but there’s a surge of confidence and obsessive compulsion to prove myself. I reach down into my blouse. Julian’s eye widens a moment before shamefully looking away, rosy red rising to his cheeks as I find the hard edge of a knife. I pull it out and unsheath it. When he looks back up, the expression of embarrassment changed quickly into an expression of shock.

Before he could stop me, I slice my hand open.

A line of red blossoms over my palm. I keep my hand open as the blood pools, threatening to spill onto the table. I stand to show him the tattooed glyphs right above my knees. He can’t look away as I lift up the front of the skirt a little to slide a finger over a couple of the glyphs. They glow briefly and I feel a surge of extra magic flood my veins. I redirect them to my wounded hand and, within seconds, the skin stitches itself back up and it is as though there wasn’t a wound there in the first place.

“You,” Julian exhales as I take my seat back across from him. “You made a deal with the Arcana.”

“No,” I correct. “It is my own magic. Glyphs help me concentrate on my magic to create potent spells. The downfall is, I am limited to how many times I can do it.”

“Do all the glyphs do that?” he sounds breathless. I smirk; I hated to admit it, but I loved to show off.

“That one heals,” I explain. His impressed expression and my intoxication boosted my confidence and urged me to keep going. “Some lets me release a gas to knock people out. There’s a few that regulates body temperature. The last one…”

My voice drifts off. I haven’t used the last glyph since….

..since…

“Hey.”

I blink. Julian had reached over the table. His gloved hand gently covered mine. His eye had softened as we stared at each other.

“There you go,” he smiles. “Welcome back.”

I shake my head and jerk my hand away. Julian’s smirk follows me as I stand a little too quickly, teetering to keep my balance.

His hand is on my waist to keep me on my feet as I nearly lose my footing. I could feel some intrigued eyes on me before turning back to their own business. I glance up to see how dang tall Julian was before watching him reach around me, take a tankard, and toss it back.

“Thanks, Barth!” he waves. “I’m going to take her back before she climbs over another wall.”

I want to protest, but the floor was moving from underneath me. I let this strange man lead me out the door and into the darkened alleyways of Vesuvia.

-

I stumble at my doorstep to see that Vik had waited patiently for me. I lazily unlock it by slapping my palm against the wooden door. I hear Vik growl beneath me, but I shush him. Julian’s breath hitches as we enter inside.

His hand is still on my waist as we maneuver inside the apothecary. The vines sense my presence and they’re reaching towards me. Julian’s hair keeps getting caught in their tendrils and he has to hunch to get through.

I point to the curtained alcove and he leads me to it. Right when I was about to open the gateway to the greenhouse, Vik barks. I’m startled and jerk my hand away.

_‘Thief!’_ he protests.

“Ah, right,” I say, pulling away from Julian. 

The tall man looks at me with curiosity as I sigh and twist my finger in the air.

“Take it off,” I slur.

Julian’s eye widens. His face flushes.

“Excuse me?” he feigns a laugh.

“Jacket, off,” I demand.

Julian’s jaw goes slack for a moment before raising a brow. He smirks as he pops his coat off with a spectacular flourish. It falls to my wooden floors with a heavy thud. He holds his arms out, ready for whatever.

“Vik, get his jacket,” I tell the fox. He gets right to work, crawling under the coat and sniffing out the pockets.

“Ah, you’re worried I will steal one of your many goods from your apothecary?” Julian concludes. I snort, placing a hand on his gloves.

My hands are heavy, clumsy as I try to pull them off. He jerks his arms back. We stare at each other for a moment before I sigh. Instead, I opted to reach underneath them. Nothing up his gloves. I reach around his collar. It occurs to me that without my boots, there would have been no way I could reach up here.

He chuckles as I accidentally tickle his neck, checking around his shirt. The white shirt was loose around his body. But I knew many thieves were able to hide small objects without compromising their looks.

“You’re a little paranoid, aren’t y…” his breath hitches as my hand slides down the front of his exposed collar. I don’t dare look up as I poke around the interior of his shirt; there weren’t any hidden pockets. I loop around his body and do the same to his back. He shudders as I make it to his hips. He had no belt, but he had a sash. I tug on it and he lets out a startled sound.

“No!” he half-gasps, half-chuckles. “I’m uh--not there, okay?”

I stare up at him for a moment. I motion to his boots.

“I need to check in there, too,” I say.

Julian stares at me for a moment before chuckling again. With a sigh, he takes off each boot and empties them. To my drunken relief, they’re empty.

“You’re so thorough,” he says. I could’ve sworn the pink never left his cheeks as I watched him fix his shirt and put his boots back on.

Suddenly, Vik barks. Julian turns pale. I give him a glare before turning my attention to my familiar. Vik is silent in my mind as he pulls out of Julian’s coat on my floor. In his jaws was an empty vial with a ball of cloth, used to stifle the scent of anything inside. I stare back up at Julian, waiting for an explanation as frustration bubbles in my chest.

“I uh,” he stammers. “I promise, I wasn’t going to take anything. That’s for if I find something in the streets, or--”

“Leave the coat here,” I command. “Vik, keep an eye on it out here.”

Vik sits on top of the coat, placing the vial on the floor but defending it with his tail. Julian narrows his eye at the creature before following me to the back wall of the alcove. I release my magic against it and the wall disappears. Julian is obviously startled; he follows my wordlessly as we go through the narrow passages.

Soon, we exit into my greenhouse. Julian is finally able to stand back up as his voice is caught in his throat, unsure what to say as he takes in his surroundings.

Unlike the apothecary, the greenhouse is bright and full of life. Small balls of bright flame in lanterns mimicked sunlight as it provided the plants below with plenty of nutrition. The floor itself was all simply soil as vines grew alongside the dirt paths. The walls were covered with various leaves and flowers, snapping and hissing in greeting as I entered.

“This is where I experiment and make my own supply,” I explain, leaning down to take off my boots. When my bare feet touch the soft soil, I let out a sigh of relief. I turned around to see what Julian was doing, only to realize how damn short I was without my shoes.

He looks down from observing the greenhouse. His eye widens at my slightly shorter stature, but he doesn’t say anything. I walk down the path and take a few turns until we come across a curtain of ivy. I pull the vines back to reveal a cloth hammock suspended a couple feet off the ground. There’s a handmade rug underneath with pillows and a large, fluffy blanket.

Home.

“If you tell anyone this is here,” I warn, yawning as I sit on my hammock. “I will kill you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I uh. I need to stop making so many fics, huh?


End file.
